Stirling Observer

Playstatio­n bought with ‘found’ card

‘It was really stupid’

- Court reporter

A Stirling man bought a Playstatio­n with a bank card he claimed he found in the street then had the gaming device shipped to his own address.

Grant Karte (26), of Princes Street, Stirling appeared before Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday charged with fraud.

A remorseful Karte admitted he was ‘stupid’ for making the purchase using the card.

The court heard how the owner of the wallet noticed that it had either gone missing or was taken on December 21 last year. The wallet contained cash and the bank card. Next day the card was used to buy an item on Amazon.

Fiscal depute Adrian Fraser told the court: “A transactio­n was made in the early hours for £288.97 which is the amount of the fraud.

“Police were then contacted and Amazon were asked to provide informatio­n of the transactio­n.

“The item had shipped to the accused’s home address and that lead police to the accused.”

Karte had ordered himself a brand new Playstatio­n 4 from the online shopping service.

Karte said that he had stumbled across the wallet next to a parked car and noted it contained Chinese bank cards and around £200.

When questioned by police, Karte said: “It was really stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

He then claims to have left the empty wallet on top of a telephone box in his street.

Karte also said to police: “It’s just stupidity. An apology isn’t enough.”

Defence solicitor, Harry Couchlin noted that his client’s “explanatio­n isn’t a wonderful one”.

Sheriff Christophe­r Shead said: “These are serious offences.

“The court has reached a provisiona­l conclusion.”

Sheriff Shead placed Karte on a community payback order which will see him carry out 160 hours of unpaid work as well as 12 months supervisio­n.

He was also ordered to pay £250 compensati­on.

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